The Roman Empire was slowly loosing its economic grasp close to the end of the Pax Romana. The Roman world, as the citizens had known it, was changing for the worst, and there was little that could have been done. Diocletian and Constantine were the two emperors who in 284 A.D started the efforts to turn around the Empire’s economic troubles.
After the Pax Romana the emperors who ruled devalued the coinage of the Empire. Civil wars had begun all around Rome’s land, and they had started to disrupt the commerce in the cities. To raise the amount of money in circulation the emperors changed the coins from all gold or silver, to coins which were made primarily of copper and had a thin coating of each precious metal. Now, the new currency was worth le
The reforms they placed into the Empire weren’t successful. The two emperors had really only succeeded in prolonging the life of the Empire. The economic problems did not disappear under the two rulers, they were only hidden. The economic issues, though small at the end of the Pax Romana, proved to be a large issue. It was one of the main problems that led to the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 A.D.
Even after the two emperors reformed the policies and center of the economy in the Roman Empire, the economic issues did not cease. The reforms resulted in the splitting of the Empire, and civil wars broke out once again. The eastern half of the Empire was full of abundance and riches, yet the western half was collapsing under stress from within its government and the pressure